A big split over abortion, stem cells

As candidates for U.S. Senate, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Alan Keyes are polar opposites, and nowhere is that more apparent than on social issues ranging from abortion to prayer in public schools.

Keyes endorses an attempt to amend the U.S. Constitution to block gay nuptials by defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman. Obama opposes such an amendment.

And on and on.

It is clear from answers the two candidates gave to a Tribune questionnaire, as well as public comments and interviews, that Obama and Keyes provide Illinois voters a clear choice as a replacement for retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.

Take abortion. Keyes passionately opposes legalized abortion, except to save the life of a mother. Obama strongly disagrees.

"The choice should be hers, not the government's," Obama, a state senator from Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, said in his questionnaire.

Even so, Obama said that had he been in the U.S. Senate two years ago, he would have voted for the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act,even though he voted against a state version of the proposal. The federal version was approved; the state version was not.

Both measures required that if a fetus survived an abortion procedure, it must be considered a person. Backers argued it was necessary to protect a fetus if it showed signs of life after being separated from its mother.

Abortion-rights advocates said current laws already protected a fetus in such instances and argued that the measure was really a way of making it harder to perform abortions.

The difference between the state and federal versions, Obama explained, was that the state measure lacked the federal language clarifying that the act would not be used to undermine Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that legalized abortion.

Keyes called Obama's vote in Springfield "incomprehensible and disturbing."

The two also disagree over whether the federal government should fund abortions through programs such as Medicaid.

"Just because something has been `judged' legal by the courts does not mean it should receive government funding," Keyes said in his questionnaire, "particularly when that action clearly violates the moral and religious conscience of the majority of our nation."

Keyes and Obama also clash on embryonic stem-cell research. Obama co-sponsored legislation endorsing stem-cell research in Illinois. Keyes vehemently opposes any such efforts.

"It is not morally acceptable to treat life as a means to other ends," Keyes said. "Life is a gift of the Creator--it is sacred and should be afforded respect from conception to natural death."

On the issue of gay marriage, Keyes and Obama find some common ground. Both oppose it.

Even so, Obama opposes proposals such as the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages and guarantees states the right to make their own choices, and the Federal Marriage Amendment to the Constitution.

Amending the Constitution to define marriage is pointless, said Obama, adding that decisions are typically left with the states. He called the Defense of Marriage Act unnecessary.

"The Full Faith and Credit Clause [of the Constitution] does not prevent a state from refusing to recognize a marriage that is contrary to its own marriage laws," Obama said.

Keyes, on the other hand, said opposition to those two measures is tantamount to support of gay marriage.

"This is a time in America where we should be doing everything we can to aid and protect the family--not further weaken it," Keyes said.

The Democrat and Republican also differed on whether the 10 Commandments should be displayed in government buildings and whether organized prayer should be allowed in public schools.

A year after the firestorm over a 10 Commandments monument in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, Obama thinks such postings in government buildings violate the constitutional separation of church and state.

"While the 1st Amendment protects the right of any citizen to post religious symbols on private property, the Supreme Court has long held that the government may not take any action that endorses a specific religious belief," Obama said.

Keyes, meanwhile, thinks it is not only proper to display the 10 Commandments in a government building but it is "desirable ... just as it is acceptable and desirable to have `In God We Trust' on our currency and in our American heart.

"The U.S. Constitution requires freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."

Keyes also supports prayer in public schools "be it a moment of silence or something more formalized, so long as the religious beliefs of any are not coerced."

Obama said current law already protects voluntary prayer in schools or moments of silence.

"I am opposed to directed prayers, written or approved by school authorities," Obama added, saying they violate the separation of church and state.